Defending the firing or defending the coach

[Hunter94]

 

For the love of God people, wake up and smell the roses. Last year, when Mike Riley was hired, almost everyone from Oregon State told us what to expect. A 0.500 type of season with may be one surprising win against a ranked opponent. That is exactly what we got. And that is exactly what we will continue to get with this coaching staff. How will this ever change if it hasn't over Mike Riley's very long career? It will be more of the same sh#t next year and they will say that the team has not adjusted to POB or he is still learning the system or some other crap excuse that people here seem to eat up like it were vitamins.

 

And for those who say we were not blown out in any game, newsflash, having a 2-10 Purdue team hang 55 points on us is a Blow Out and a huge embarrassment given the fact that Purdue did not score more than 35 points in any other game and have not beaten any other Big 10 team. There are more than six first year coaches that did wonders with their teams. This coach is supposedly experienced and not a 35 year old coach at the beginning of his career. These results are unacceptable and people who make excuses or want these coaches to have another year hoping for a chmapionship run next year are dillusional and need serious medication.

 

The sooner we end this experiment the better. However, I am smart enough to know that nothing will change and this coaching staff will have at least one to two years of this sh**ty performance and at that point, Riley will retire with a nicely financed bank account, chewing his gum all the way to Hawaii, while the state of Nebraska attempts to pick up the shattered pieces. At that point, we would have slipped so far into irrelevance that the way back will be nothing short of a miracle. This is the reality and anything else is a bunch of rainbows and unicorns.

 

Having said that, I will always bleed Husker Red and I will hope that my beloved Huskers win every game.

 

That pretty much says it all. You are spot on. I have wondered the same things. This coach and his staff are who they are now, and who they will be 2,3, 4, years down the road.

I hope the AD makes another quick decision after next season, and gives himself some time to find a coach with a better proven record, than this bunch.

Nice guys don't always finish last, but this group may be the exception.

 

GBR!!!

 

have to agree.......but back to SE, need to run his ass off first........then find a new coach....SE will never admit he f'd up.......fire his ass now.

[adc7236]

Les Miles, if fired we should hire him immediately if he would come to our dumpster fire.

I hope not. A guy who has proved he can do less with more. He has the keys to a Ferrari in terms of talent but never seems to get his team where they need to be.....lately.

[Ratt Mhule]

I'm sorry but I have and will continue to doubt this hire as long as Banker is on this staff. Beaver fans have been screaming for his head for years. "improvement" the last two games is a shaky term. They did what they should against a God awful Rutgers team, whose best player played at about 40%, and against an Iowa team that it's far from scary they played okay. However, even before Gerry was tossed there was confusion throughout the defense.

 

Between Banker, Hughes and Stewart there it's so much left to be desired. They never progressed throughout the year, never made adjustments that they said could help the team (ie Daniel Davie before the Miami game), never could disguise a blitz, the thought process of why rushing only three against BYU was the only logical option, making crap QBs look like the second coming of Peyton Manning, did they ever run a dline stunt this year while continuing to rush only four?, and to continue to run a system that had been getting trashed for years and feeling no need for self searching on this concept ware all things that have led to this crap show unit.

 

Add to the fact only Bray is the only coach on that side of the ball that shows a pulse on the recruiting trail, leads my continual belief that as long as the head clown Banker is here, three Blackshirts will be a joke, which will directly result in continual typical Mike Riley .500 seasons

 

 

Not a huge fan of the staff. There are some guys that I like and I think do a good job. but overall not a big fan. However, I think a coach deserves more than one year to turn things around, so I will not be calling for the firing of Mike Riley. However, the guys PC mentioned are all fair game.

[lo country]

 

 

I'm for him having a little more time. Schematically our passing game is extremely good. We have great route combinations that result in guys running wide open. We need a QB capable of making these progressions and we would have a completely different type of year.

 

Defense has dramatically improved by years end. We seem to have found a few CBs that can handle their own. Our LBs are young and will improve and our DL will be stout next season as well.

 

Offensively we just need a QB who can make smart decisions and we will be damn good IMO

Not a fan of Riley, but you make some very valid points. Was hoping to see more "facts" and less emotion.

 

After seeing still photos of open receivers just standing there, it is tempting to imagine an O that has a QB who can make and progress reads. The D has improved. I think Banker is the reason. Not Stewart IMO. Banker at least has some entertatingin quotes at every presser.

 

If we continue to pass, I would love to see Riley reach out to David Shaw and learn that O, maybe even try and hire away Bloomgren to be our OC. Just not a fan of Langs. Love Stanfords power run game. (we need to recruit OL)

So, you agree that the scheme is good enough to get receivers wide open but you want to change the scheme. Interesting.

 

I like the plays that are in the play book in both passing and running the ball. It lets the QB distribute the ball to everyone.

 

See my bolded comments. The scheme is tempting with a QB. And then IF we continue to pass..... Our pas first 40+ times a game no. A passing game like Stanford, predicated on a power run game with spread elements yes. As we currently have with Langs, no. Power running is the only way to win in the B1G IMO. See OSU unleash their RB. Baja ran through around and over Auburn with the run game. OU the same..... We need power, not pretty.

[lo country]

Reading the posts this morning, it seems that most are not for firing based upon the perception and its crazy to fire a one year coach. It would hurt us nationally (reputation) and make it even harder to get the "splash hire". Throw in SE would then choose a complete loser out of spite and we are stuck. I did notice very few in defense of not hiring based upon his abilities. Some say to keep based upon potential of his recruits....

 

That's what scares me the most. Hoping that he can turn things around with his guys.... Look at OSU. His guys, system and a division he was very familiar with.

[SouthLincoln Husker]

50% of college football is about recruiting, the rest is teaching & calling plays. The reason Frank is not here is due to his lack of recruiting, Calahan could not teach & Bo lost his job because of his attitude, not football. In no way can you compare the pit of Oregon St. to Lincoln, NE, so please lets stop going there. We need a QB, OL & DE bad. The defense got better and Tommy surprised me in a good way this year. Good players can make an average coach look great. I am willing to give Riley the benefit of the doubt in year 1, but we must as see progress in year 2. Plus a top 25 recruiting class this year and a top 15 next year.

[SouthLincoln Husker]

Reading the posts this morning, it seems that most are not for firing based upon the perception and its crazy to fire a one year coach. It would hurt us nationally (reputation) and make it even harder to get the "splash hire". Throw in SE would then choose a complete loser out of spite and we are stuck. I did notice very few in defense of not hiring based upon his abilities. Some say to keep based upon potential of his recruits....

 

That's what scares me the most. Hoping that he can turn things around with his guys.... Look at OSU. His guys, system and a division he was very familiar with.

I hate the comparison to Oregon St. It is a pit compared to Nebraska and their are high school facilities that our better. Riley never had the tools or resources at OS. A team that Riley was at least 500 is 2-10 this year.

[84HuskerLaw]

There are some who write negatively about Riley and Company and have done so since the day he was hired. They are not being reasonable or fair to anyone involved and are being completely unrealistic. Sadly, there have been coaching hires that were mistakes dating back to Frank and continuing on through Callahan and Pelini. The facts are not all in on Riley although I think if one had to make a decision (up or down) on Riley today, the answer would be negative. But no decision has been made nor will it be made at this point in time. He will be the coach next year and most likely the year after that, no matter whether his wins total more than 5 assuming he puts a team out on the field each game that plays hard and represents the University well. Wins and losses are NOT the only thing that matters. Pelini may have won 9 games a year but he did so in such an embarrassing way that no reasonable University of Nebraska leader (Regents, Admin, faculty, AD) could support him any longer. Callahan was a professional level coach with a propfessional level mindset and attitude. He is not suited for amateur sports. Frank was a poor recruiter and had personal issues that were a risk to the University's reputation that had been kept under the rug (USC fired their coach over drinking problems so it is not unprecedented) and maybe Frank realized after his drunk driving issues in Ohio that it would be his last shot and was able to straighten himself out.

Thus far, Riley has not apparently done anything but be a good and decent person and represent the University well in that regard. His football team has not bee very successful but that did some things right and were not a complete failure, being competitive in every game, including against a few highly respected opponents. Did we win? No - we lost about 7 that - had everything gone right and with a little extra luck - we could have possibly won.

The biggest single issue, in my not so humble opinion, Nebraska football has is an overall lack of talent. We have a number of good football players and almost no great football players. We have several positions without good players. We lack depth at nearly every position. These are simply true statements. The players we have made some varying degrees of improvement through the year and that is the coach's job - make the players better football players. This team could win all of its games if it had the following: an excellent QB, , 2 quality RBs with speed and power, two more excellent O linemen, 2 exceptional LBs and 1 top notch lock down CB. Even with these additional players, the games would be tight, close and hard fought battles. To get to a dominate team, you need 3 consecutive top ten recruiting classes and in those classes you have to have at least 75% 'hits' and add another 4 quality walk ons per year. We really don't have a quality second string level group at all.

After watching this year play out, I think it is remarkable the number of wins Pelini was able to procure with the talent he had and although he did recruit well in some cases, he was not progressing and it is very likely that this year's record would have been no better than 6 - 6 with a couple uglier losses and without the upset of Mchigan State.

 

Going forward, there is hope and there is risk. If a great coach contacts NU about the job, you certainly need to listen and evaluate. If a 'perfect' fit pop up, you must always do your due dilligence. Riley appears to be in good health and knows the game of football. recruiting will be the challenge. Going 5-7 doesn't help but it does show there is urgent need and players with hopes of playing early have a tremendous opportunity in Lincoln. Should we get a bowl invite, we need to take the opportunity and try to get one more win this season and gain some valuable momentum and a bit more practice and experience for some more future players. Practice is how a team gets better.

[Hammerhead]

For me, it's a mixture of seeing potential and just feeling like he deserves more time (not so much for his own sake, but for the sake of stability within our program).

[KCBuc]

There is a lot I did not love this year about the coaching but i have some hope. There were MANY open receivers this year that Armstrong either never saw or thought he saw something else. He wasn't recruited to be Eli Manning but expected to play like him. . MR needs to show his system to get better recruits. I'd prefer power over a pass happy game any day and every day, but since that is not the plan, I might as well embrace the vision. I'm willing to give MR a pass because some kids may not have wanted to play for MR and halfed it during the season. Their heart may not have been in it. As they graduate or transfer out, we can see what MR brings to the table. Good or bad. It appears the recruiting is on the upswing compared to past years from what I read.

 

Defense- They played better at the end of year but I'm not 100% sure they could play worse. I'm not a fan of Banker, his crying, or his scheme. I'm willing to accept the idea that talent in spots was weak, no depth, over thinking/switch to a new system, and general confusion for this year. Banker needs to figure it out or he's going to Bohl MR right out the door.The special teams were not great either. Lot of work needs to be done IMO.

 

MR is on a three year plan this year with me. In three years. NU will have seen a large enough sample of the offense, defense, and sp teams. Everyone can look at the recruits and see if he is drafting talent or guys that cannot cut it for whatever reason. We will see the W-L record. If NU is getting their butts wiped or competing every week. We will be able to see if 4th and 1 is a doable down or a mind numbing, bang your head on the wall collection of crap. Is clock management improving? Do they know when to kick a FG? The jury will be out in a few seasons if this was a good hire or not. Everyone in Missouri wanted Pinkel fired, but he gradually shifted the culture and won. I do not want the Huskers to be the college version of the Oakland Raiders. Firing coaches left and right. Never getting any consistency. Lastly, i want the coach to win since he's at NU. If he's fired, I no longer care about Mr. I will not follow him. This is the same for BO, Frank, and Cally.

[louisianared]

 

dude, we have major probs on offense..... turn the ball over (thanks Tommie) multiple times, ...............

 

 

I totally agree but there are problems that can be fixed, especially once we get a quarterback in that is made for this system. I've felt all year that they had to adjust and reign in the offense for Tommy to run it.

 

 

 

have no versatile running backs, (that we know of)

Yet another obstacle that Riley came into, he definitely didn't have a stacked roster.

 

 

 

got lucky against MSU

On that same token there were teams that got lucky against us, goes both ways.

 

 

 

piss poor play calling by MR.

At times I didn't agree with the calls but I can understand why some of them were made. Example, on the 4th and 1 there were guys wide open, Tommy just chose the fade route.

 

 

 

5-7 is not a reason to be hopeful, it tells you the coaches have a ton of work to do.

 

I agree that the coaches have a ton of work to do. We do differ in being hopeful or not and there is nothing wrong with that. I am hopeful and optimistic because I believe Riley came into a massive rebuilding project and I do believe there was a very toxic and destructive environment surrounding the team. I liked the leadership and maturity the team showed this year.

 

Was a tough season and they could have easily given up after the Purdue game but they didn't. I saw a lot of positives and was really impressed with how the defense came together. I really think we are going to see some major improvements next year.

[MichiganDad3]

Reading the posts this morning, it seems that most are not for firing based upon the perception and its crazy to fire a one year coach. It would hurt us nationally (reputation) and make it even harder to get the "splash hire". Throw in SE would then choose a complete loser out of spite and we are stuck. I did notice very few in defense of not hiring based upon his abilities. Some say to keep based upon potential of his recruits....

 

That's what scares me the most. Hoping that he can turn things around with his guys.... Look at OSU. His guys, system and a division he was very familiar with.

Nebraska should never go 5-7. This tells me that this staff is terrible. Changes have to be made, but the question is when. IMO the answer is after SE is gone, which can only happen after harvey is gone. We will continue to suffer through bad football for at least one more year.

[MichiganDad3]

I see many stating we have lack of talent, but I don't agree. We may have the best two DTs in the BIG. Jano, Cross and Ozigbo are very capable, but mis-used. We have good receivers. Before the season started, people were raving about how good our DBs were. Bo won 9 games with a lousy scheme on D, and an OC that failed at OSU. I don't see MR being a better recruiter than Bo, so I expect the talent to stay the same. I cringe when I think of an NFL style, immobile QB parked in the pocket, getting pounded in MR's offense. We had an easy schedule this year. Dark days are ahead with this staff.

[Elf]

Another thread. I know.

 

In reading through all of the fire Riley threads, one thing stands out to me, no one is really defending his abilities per say.

 

I am just wondering for this who support Riley, is it because of his abilities and potential or because you feel a coach, regardless of upside/potential etc he should be given more than one year.

 

I understand defending the idea of not firing a first year coach. It might make hiring a quality coach an issue, scare away recruits etc... Firing a 10-3 Solich didn't work out and although Bo wasn't right anymore, record wise it hasn't worked yet.

 

So are you against the firing because you think he is a good coach and can really get us to the next level? What do you base this on.

Solich didn't coach the bowl game so you don't get to add that to his record. He was 9-3 his last year.

[Elf]

I do not think this staff is very good. Turnovers, penalties and game management are very poor, and have been for MR's entire career. The QB position was handled terribly this year. There is no way a player like TA should have been throwing this much, and making the decisions we saw him make. Add Fyfe's 55 passes as a 1st time starter in bad weather. I don't think the RBs were handled well either. Jano didn't get a single carry today, and we chose a fade to the end zone over Jano leading Cross on 4th and 1. There were special teams miscues, and the D was bad most of the year. IMO this is a typicl MR year: upset a good team, get killed by a bad team, and finish around 500. There is no evidence to suggest MR will take a team to the top 10.

 

I am not sure much can be don until we get a new chancellor. SE cannot be trusted to hire another coach. If we lose the sellout streak next year, changes will happen in a hurry.

Ryker Fyfe didn't throw 55 times against Purdue. Sorry. He went 29-48-4. He also threw for 407 yards and 4 TDs. If Fyfe doesn't throw 4 Ints we most likely win that game. Same with the Iowa game, if Tommy doesnt' throw 4 Ints we would probably have won that one as well.